Sunday, October 11, 2009

I've been paying a lot more attention to my food during the last two months, trying to figure out the healthiest way to be eating, thinking of my body as a machine and the food I consume as the fuel. A friend who shares my nutrition zeal sent me this neat list of food rules compiled by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemna. While I don't agree with every rule, it's an interesting list and gives a neat perspective. My personal favourites are #s 9, 11, and 20.Enjoy.My personal rule, which I haven't quite managed to implement but which I'm working towards, is: Eat foods in inverse proportion to how long they take to be edible. What I mean by this is that vegetables are the fastest and easiest thing to grow and so should make up the largest portion of our diets, followed by fruits, then grains, then meats.I don't actually do this, not yet. I wish I did. Working on it.

5 comments:

I like those rules, and your own. My personal rule is the calorie-to-fullness ratio. Kind of hard to explain in writing, but I basically imagine a graph of fullness (y-axis) vs. calories (x-axis). If you take a straight diagonal line between those two axes (y=x), you want most of your food to be on the "fullness" side of that line.

I think the one about not getting bogged down in rules is the best food advice. But I also think it's good to be mindful of what you're eating...thinking of food as fuel -- even more than that actually -- it's what keeps you alive, keeps you functioning at all levels. So, it's good to strive to feed your body the best quality you can for optimum performance

K, I totally understand your graph. You're talking about volume eating, which is fun! (and way healthier than eating a million calorie-rich things).XUP, you're right. If you feel guilty about every cheat, you'll make yourself crazy. I think changing your perspective is a much longer lasting approach than just following the rules.

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About My Shadow

An arts-loving writer-at-heart, engineer-by-profession Canadian Muslim. If someone would pay me to read novels all day, I would gladly do it. As it is, I'm paid to do ITIL and data coordination / architecture. Other interests include literature, photography, music, politics, social justice, Islam, holistic health, hockey (Montreal Canadiens), and my nieces and nephews.